Kyoto

Shortest review I have probably ever had, POKE SALAD!!! Its all you need.

Really a poor excuse for a sushi/​sashimi place. Other menu items are more tolerable. I’m not entirely sure where the sushi chefs at Kyoto obtained the idea of separating pieces of sashimi with lemon, but it completely ruins the fish. The citric acid cooks the fish while it awaits for you to taste it. Therefore, most pieces if fish end up either mushy or completely rubbery. Furthermore, the only taste that greets your palette is the overpowering taste of citrus. Disappointing. To cap it all off, service is mediocre.

Disgusting. No. For real. Someone told me Kyoto 2 in Metry is the best. So I figured why wouldn’t Kyoto 1 be good? It wasn’t. I almost can’t eat sushi again. Grow up New Orleans sushi and stop serving crap.

After dining here a few times, we realized that the poke salad and margarita roll are the best items on the menu. Even though they have one of the best poke salads, its not enough for me to drive 30 min and another 15 min looking for a parking spot.
We found ourselves having lunch here recently (la thai was unexpectedly closed) which lamented this 2 star review.
There was a sushi chef for hire sign out front which ended up making sense after ordering. One of the specialty rolls we ordered was listed on the chalk board and was recommended by our server. It was so disgusting that it was inedible. It had micro greens inside and globs of parsley and cilantro on top. So imagine shoving a piece in your mouth that not only tasted like youre eating a garden but the finale was you picking pieces of parsley and cilantro out of your teeth.
The market price himachi kama (yellow tail neck) was the saddest that we have ever seen. The kids ended up not eating so after the poke salad and 2 disappointing rolls, we paid our $ 70 bill and left.
I will never take a chance coming here again.

The price range is expensive! Had two rolls and a hamachi coma and four drinks which totaled up to be around $ 75! The drinking cups are humongous. The food taste bad, lots of small hard stuff in the havichi roll. The margarita roll just tasted bad itself. The hamachi coma was dry. I would recommend going somewhere else for sushi. Spend your money elsewhere.

This place is filthy, it’s close to my house so I wish it was better but the place is crawling with bugs. Especially being a sushi restaurant I really expect a much higher level of cleanliness and sanitation!

Kyoto is my local sushi place so I thought I’d give this place another try, but my most recent experience was disappointing. I placed an order for takeout and was told it would take 45 minutes. I figured they were extremely busy but when I came in, the restaurant was nearly empty.
My «fresh yellowtail roll» did not deliver on the promise of freshness, at least not as far as I could taste. I’ll update this review if crippling food poisoning kicks in, but so far I feel okay.
I also ordered a dynamite roll, but subbed avocado for asparagus. Half of the 6 tiny pieces were just «spicy» tuna (which wasn’t spicy, it just tasted like ginger-​flavored tuna), no avocado to be found.
The prices do not make this place a good value.
But the most dismaying part was the absence of wasabi and ginger in my takeout box. I’ve never had to specify that I’d like those items to be included… it’s one of those things that goes without saying. Sushi without wasabi is not sushi I want to eat.
Chiba, Sake Café II and Origami have much fresher fish – I feel that these places are much more trustworthy in terms of quality and freshness. Furthermore, Chiba and Sake Café have unbeatable happy hours, making their sushi occasionally affordable.
I wanna give Kyoto credit for one thing though: I like the simplicity of the menu offerings. I would recommend Kyoto to someone who is horrified by tempura-​fried, cream cheese-​stuffed rolls drizzled with mango sauce and things of that ilk. You know, American sushi. Their rolls are much more straight to the point. Pretty much just rice and seaweed and fish, if that’s your thing.
Anyway, my sushi craving hasn’t been satisfied so I’m feeling kinda bummed. Next time I’ll go somewhere else.

The smallest sushi menu I think I’ve ever seen. Been here twice and both times was a let down. The sushi is good but small rolls. The service is TERRIBLE. We sat at a table the first time and sushi bar the second. Both ways it took a good 30 – 45 minutes to get our sushi… SUSHI mind you! That’s usually the fastest food! Not worth your time until they extend the menu and get more sushi chefs-​or do something about this horribly slow, unfriendly service.

This used to be our go-​to sushi place for years — especially for the Poke Salad. Tonight was strike three and I do not think we will be going back. Strike one was about a month ago: our rolls were falling apart, the service was super slow, and the food wasn’t great. We assumed it was an off night, and because of our loyalty went back a few weeks later. Again, the food was off, we saw a cockroach crawl out from behind the sushi bar, and the service was slow. Tonight was the grand finale and strike three. Our poke salads were missing seaweed, and when we brought this to our waiter’s attention, the sushi chef yell «I put it in there.» It was also missing squid salad and ginger, but we didn’t bring that up for fear of another hell storm from the chef. In addition to our slow and lacking food, we were made to feel like we were a burden simply by being there.
We are sad to give up these Poke salads (especially the properly made ones of the past), but strike three and you’re out Kyoto.

Was looking forward to this place as I have heard great things. However I was fairly disappointed. While the fish quality was decent, the rice accompanying the nigiri and rolls was TERRIBLE. The flavor was subpar and the rice was overly soft and almost mushy in texture. Bad rice ruins the experience of tasting the fish. I tried the uni as well, which also did not seem super fresh.
Service and overall atmosphere and cleanliness was good. However will be going to other japanese places from now on for sushi

Food overall: 4 stars
Price value: 4 stars
Fish Quality: 3 stars
Service: 4 stars
Cleanliness: 4 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Location: 5 stars (I’m in this part of Uptown often, and it’s right next door to Creole Creamery!)
I’ve only been here twice during dinner service. No major issues. Okay sushi for NOLA. Fun for a date night.

Well I was disappointed this time. I’ve been here several times years ago and I remember the food, service and atmosphere were better. I ordered the grilled salmon lunch with a small salad and white rice. I was not given a choice of fried rice or white rice. The food and service was alright.

Kyoto is my favorite sushi in New Orleans. Granted, we don’t do sushi incredibly well here. But Kyoto has a few things down.
They are not overpriced, which is unlike so many sushi places. I could easily eat here for under $ 10 with smart choices. But I never order smart with sushi and end up getting 2 – 3 times as much as I should have.
The more traditional rolls are done correctly. The fancy, «American» rolls (inside out, fried things in them, etc.) are also really well done. Nor do they charge an arm and a leg for them. They have a mix of good, traditional rolls, and a solid presentation of other interesting and worthwhile rolls. Vegetable and double mushroom rolls are highly recommended, especially for vegetarians. The tabo roll is so big it’s basically physically impossible to eat. But it’s awesome to try.
The one knock I have on the place is that the table service is always a little unpolished. I need to just start sitting at the sushi bar.

I love Kyoto. I love Japanese food. I love walking the streets of Japan dropping in and out of hole in the wall restaurants for an ice cold Kirin and some yakatori. So being a recent migrant to the city and finding an actual Japanese restaurant called Kyoto, I was pretty excited.
Finally, a few days ago, we decided to visit. First impression, is this the only Japanese restaurant without any Asians working in it? That’s weird.
Didn’t particularly fancy the sushi bar so went for the full menu. Ordered some apps and a bowl of udon noodles (in the absence of Ramen). We weren’t particularly impressed by any of the apps. The fish was overcooked, verging on burnt. The yakitori was a massive disappointment, mainly because it simply was not yakitori. There was no char, no smokey flavor, it was a chicken kebab drowned in sauce. As dishes go, a chicken kebab with sauce can be good but when you expect (and hope for) delicately charred pieces of chicken, then it’s disappointing. Also, there’s a theatre to a yakitori that’s fun and enjoyable. That was missing too. Our final app was the dumplings. These were good.
On the other side, the udon were excellent. These live and die based on the broth and it was really really good. Deep flavor and just the right amount of salt. This was a winner and we would go back for that alone.

Horrible. I have friends that rave about this place and have also read good reviews, so maybe it has gone downhill recently.
I have been here twice, the first time was simply mediocre, but the second time it was horrendous. My green tea came out so hot that the server couldn’t hold the glass, which caused him to drop the glass on the table, almost spilled on me!
–Gyoza were only pan fried on one side, very dry, they tasted old.
–Hamachi Kama was lackluster and slightly fishy, very small portion too.
–On the yellowtail nigori, the rice was undercooked to the point that it still had crunch to it, they also smeared Wasabi all over the rice, but the fish itself was decent.
–In fact, all the sushi rice was pretty bad; it was very bland and not very soft and sticky like it should be.
–Octopus nigori was not cleaned property and very chewy, also had the Wasabi smeared all over the rice.
We also had 3 other rolls, none of them were particularly good. Also, what is up with that giant vagina shaped decoration on the wall in the dining room. Weird.
Definitely save yourself from being disappointed, go to Mikimoto or Asuka instead

I haven’t had much sushi since ive moved to NOLA but I’m a big fan of this place. Definitely come back

Start with the Poke Salad.
I always order something different here. It’s always good.

With a heavy heart, I have to drop Kyoto down to 3 stars. They have been my go to sushi place for over a decade but not anymore.
First it was poorly cut fish (on a couple of occasions) to the point that I could gnaw through a piece of tuna. Then on my last take out order, I opened up my box of sushi and the white fish stunk up my kitchen with the ammonia smell. Old fish is just not acceptable.
There are just too many good sushi spots around. If I crave seaweed udon, I’ll still pop in but order with care.

Kyoto is my hands down favorite place for sushi in New Orleans.
The fish is always fresh and the service is decent. We always sit at the sushi bar so we can spy all the beautiful dishes going out.
The popular poke salad is a standout, with chunks of tuna mingling with avocado crabstick, cucumber, seaweed salad, squid salad, asparagus, and spicy chili dressing. The salmon is always melt in your mouth creamy and the funky margarita roll is pricey, but delicious.

Food took too long to come out. We had ordered to go dumplings, spring roll, and a sushi; the whole order took 1hr to come out. They apologized and said their kitchen was backed up but apparently this happens a lot here.
Food was decent but on the pricey side. I do like the location it’s convenient if you want some dessert afterward you’re right next to yogurt land and creole creamery.